cheryl lin says my personal opinion is to stop all campaigning and use the funds to support the victims of hurricane sandy. "cnn newsroom" continues with brooke baldwin. >> thank you. good to be with you on this thursday. important jobs news with just five days to go here before the election. this is a new report, released today which indicates the u.s. employers hiring in bigger numbers than expected. let me be clear. this information, this is not coming from that all-important government jobs report. that doesn't come out until tomorrow. so today's numbers come from adp. they process payroll so let's go straight to alison kosik for this. what more do we know about this report? >> okay. what this report does, brooke, surveys how many jobs that private employers have added so it means all those industries that are outside of the government arena and what it said this time around for october is 158,000 jobs were added. and it came in better than

expected, seeing good job gains in services and construction and a second report on jobs showing unemployment claims fell by 9,000 last week. decent pieces of news from the labor market but the reality is analysts say it may not have a huge impact on how people vote next week because what matters for voters is what's going on with your own economy an your own life. do you have a job? does your spouse have a job? people are more likely to vote about their own situation. brooke? >> back to the numbers in the report. what is the possibility, alison, the numbers, additional 158,000 jobs added might be foreshadowing to what we get in the all-important jobs report tomorrow? >> the reality is adp missed many times. kind of meant to be an appetizer. as you said, the official labor department report comes out friday and counts both jobs in the private and public sectors. expectation there is not as rosy as adp. economists of cnn money said that they expect a gain of

125,000 positions last month but you know what? even with those gains, we are at this point where we're hardly adding enough to keep up with population growth much less bring down the unemployment rate in a significant fashion and with days before the election, both sides you can bet they find something to talk about in this report, you know, president obama can say it's better than 800,000 jobs losing taking office. romney, he can say that unemployment rate is too high and guess what? both would be right. brooke. >> we'll get the numbers and spin tomorrow. alison kosik, thank you. now to day three of recovery in the northeast. sandy has been absorbed by another weather system now but the superstorm really redefined what waterfront means here in both new jersey and new york. sandy created this new inlet in new jersey cutting this barrier island in to two. our affiliate spoke with a

homeowner of the home that was next door. >> there's nothing -- i mean, right now there's -- it's just water where the house would be. there's not even sand where the house was. there's a wake where the house was. since there's nothing left to go back to sift through, whether it's three days or three weeks, you know, all we would be looking at is a sand pile. >> and since this video was taken there, crews have built up a road so trucks can pass by. this is just one example of how sandy reworked this landscape here in new jersey. the satellite view shows seaside heights, new jersey. we have talked about the amusement park rides. we have pictures before and after. before and then the after pictures here just devastation. but for all of this, you hear survivors thankful for their lives.

sandy's death toll now stands at 81 in the u.s. 150 total. there is concern that that number could rise from new problems like gas leaks. >> you had to be careful because you could hear the gas leaks. the sound and you could smell it really strong. >> speaking of gasoline, you seen the lines? car after car after car. people in line. this is new york, new jersey. meanwhile, 7,000 people in nine states, excuse me, spent the night in shelters and at this hour 4.8 million customers still have no power. look at this video. this is incredible. this is the time lapse video showing the time the lights went out. manhattan, brooklyn. the president seizing on the positive signs, though, of progress here. like some subways and say that again, some subways in new york's waterlogged system up and running again. late this morning in wisconsin the president spoke of being inspired after seeing the

devastation firsthand just yesterday. >> when disaster strikes, we see america at its best. all of the petty differences that consume us in normal times all seem to melt away. no democrats or republicans during a storm. they're just fellow americans. >> the president there today in wisconsin. i do have some heartbreaking news. just absolutely heartbreaking news. we have now learned crews have located the bodies of two boys, 2 and 4 years old. the water swept them out of their mother's arms on staten island. hearts, prayers to families up and down the east coast here and across the hudson river, in the city of hoboken, most people are still without power. many of them trapped in their homes because of all this floodwater. meteorologist bob van dill within the sister network hln is there for us. bob, tell me what it likes like

right now. >> brooke, thanks a lot. the biggest concern is people getting the information they need and right here in front of city hall and what they've done. a wipe board that says important information. estimate of total power restoration in 7 to 10 days. that's the sign, the bullet point that everybody sees and says, ugh. you've got to be kidding me. almost deflating. others that are good. tap water is safe to drink and phone charging stations, where to go for that. to the left further, notice the national guard is still there and good news is they have changed their operations. now they're not doing any high water rescues. yesterday at this time, taking boatloads of people off of the trucks and moving them to shelters. right now just plain old distribution of supplies. somebody needs supplies, they tell them where they are and national guard brings it down to them which is good. the water here is total receded but the biggest problem, obviously, no power and cold over the next couple of days and

people without heat, that's very uncomfortable. brooke? >> bob van dillen, thank you. that reminds us of japan and the earthquake and tsunami there. similar system. also in new jersey, they call him st. michael in del mar. for two days, michael irwin used the boat to take the neighbors to and from the waterlogged homes. 12 hours a day. he is a surfer, a kayaker and a former boy scout. neighbors are absolutely grateful that he's willing to pitch in and help. michael's home is filled with six feet of water. to give you perspective, it's a tight knit coastal community. popular vacation pot and chris christie's first stop on the tour of the demolished state and cnn international anchor is live for me now in belmar, new jersey. jim, tourism is huge for folks where you are. how will people move forward? tell me what it looks like today. >> reporter: well, you know, the

way that this community of belmar is going to move forward, it is a small community. about 6,000 people year around. 60,000 in the summertime. perhaps even more on the weekends. the only way that these people can move forward or the business community can move forward, tourism can move forward is to get the water out of here, brooke. you know, you look at this stream and say the waters will rece recede. no, they won't. the town is something of a bowl. there are two lakes, two natural lakes. they have to pump that water out. before we get off that shot, brooke, you will be interested to know, bruce springsteen used to go jogging down this street where you see the water. >> where we see the kayaker. >> reporter: down to the beach every morning. yeah. we have met the kayaker and seen him at work today. but i can tell you right now out on the beach, they're really at work and what they're trying to

do is pump two inland lakes they have in this town, pump them out to where they came from and they're doing that with huge pumps. some of them deployed after katrina. they're pumping right now i think 700,000 gallons an hour. they hope later by later today they'll be pumping some 2 million gallons an hour. they're attacking this right now. at the same time, they try to push the debris out of their city. >> any idea, jim, how long that will take, that process of pumping it out? >> no. i don't really know how long it will take. because, you know, they're going to pump basements out. there's a high school near here. pumping that basement out. their gymnasium and back in to it so all the water's going to come out of the homes in to those lakes even as those lakes are being emptied and going to empty them all the way down to the bottom. it's certainly going to be a process. a weeklong process but at the same time the long-term outlook is here to rebuild and rebuild

by memorial day, before the beginning of summer 2013. and they know that's even a tall order. may seem like seven months away, eight months away, no, there's so much work to be done in rebuilding it takes every bit of this. >> it's a goal to bring people back. jim clancy, thank you. in streets and neighborhoods, the standing floodwaters full of gasoline and chemicals and raw sewage. coming up next, the serious health dangers folks there are facing. plus, the candidates on the trail today and hearing the strategies for final days of campaigning. gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. as all those pictures and different videos continue to come in to us here at cnn, flooded streets and homes like this one, i want to remind you, that water we're all looking at, that contains millions of gallons of raw sewage. folks, waste, chemicals. one man trapped today in hoboken, new jersey, describes the water flooding his apartment. >> when you see the water up close and you kind of go up to it, you can tell it's not

average lake water. there's oil in it. you can kind of tell it's contaminated. it's an odor to it. you want to stay as far away as possible and the live wires inside of it. just kind of really a booby trap. >> something else. baltimore, maryland, pictures from the sky. sue sanlg treatment facility as it spewed untreated sewage in to the chesapeake bay in connecticut. this is hit by sandy. each one spilling raw sewage. we have to talk about the water and let's do so with elizabeth cohen and chad myers. good to see you. elizabeth, just hearing that person talking about wading through the water, not your average lake water, how toxic are we talking? >> that reminds me of the days following katrina, actually. you want to avoid the water if you can. not only sewage but what you can see and dissolved industrial

toxic compounds. you really want to stay away from it if you can. you certainly don't want to drink it. state the obvious. >> let me talk to you, chad, because when you hear from the may why are of new york, mayor michael bloomberg, he said the drinking water is safe. we see it in the hudson and the east river. how did the plants fail? >> they were inundated with water. they were flooded and the water went in to the plants. you see the rings. that's where the sewage is treated and some partially treated and so much untreated and the water that comes in new york city comes from 50, 100 miles away from the catskills and down big aqua ducts and the mayor says it's safe. i'm still telling everybody i that you can to that if you have a stove that works, boil it. >> boil the water. >> it doesn't matter. there's cracks, seams, other places that things can go when you have this much sewage in the regular water all around you, you just want to have that kind

of precaution. >> and then you have the people who are trying to salvage what they have. they have their clothes and soaked in the sewage-filled water and some of them cleaning them with peroxide. is that good enough? >> well, for anything that has touched floodwaters and the floodwaters have gone away, clothes or anything, you want to remember that it's still not clean. right? because even though it's dry it is not clean. >> so then what you do? >> peroxide is one thing but there are other things to do but you want to be really careful. just because it's dry doesn't mean it's clean. for example, if floodwaters came in contact with packaged food, get rid of it. you don't know what seeped in there. there's packaging and dry now, if it had contact with floodwaters, get rid of it. >> don't take the chance. >> no. not worth it. >> jim clancy was talking about how everyone is coming together

and you have this water. they're pumping it out and could take, he can't answer. he was honest. when you have this kind of stagnant water for days, dare i say weeks, what happens then? >> i mean you certainly hear about things like cholera and typhoid in other countries. we haven't had that problem here but again with the stagnant water, you want to stay away from it. you have a longer it sits and more things growing in it. but the bottom line is you want to stay away from it. >> the sun has some disinfecting qualities to it. the sun and uv and all that but not enough. you take your precautions. >> i feel for everyone out there so much. chad, elizabeth, thank you both. politics here. hello. five days from the election, new polls suggest president obama with an advantage in several swing states so in the final few days of campaigning, is time reasoning out for mitt romney?

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here we go. five days left until the election and the president is back today on the campaign

trail. he took off monday, tuesday and wednesday to tend to hurricane sandy, and of course, its aftermath. but here he is kicking off the sprint to the finish with an airport rally in green bay, wisconsin, and with the sense of unity after sandy, the president mocked mitt romney's claim to be the candidate of change. >> well, let me tell you, wisconsin. we know what change looks like. and what the governor's offering sure ain't change. giving more power back to the biggest banks isn't change. leaving millions without health insurance isn't change. another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy isn't change. turning medicare in to a voucher is a change but we don't want that change. >> first stop in wisconsin. mitt romney is blitzing virginia today. we expect to hear from romney very, very shortly. we will dip in to that live.

but first, i want to show you where the campaigns are headed from now until next tuesday, next day. keep in mind, this is all subject to change but for now, mitt romney planning to visit ohio, wisconsin, new hampshire, iowa and colorado. nothing scheduled in florida yet. but we are still awaiting clarity on the plans for sunday. as for the president, president obama has rallies planned between now and election day in ohio, wisconsin, iowa, virginia, new hampshire, florida and colorado. gloria borger is our chief political analyst. i'm out of breath running through the different states he'll be visiting. what do the maps tell you and things could change. what do you make of the fact romney won't be heading to florida? >> well, on the florida point, i was on the conference call with a few of his top advisers yesterday and they say they feel good about florida and a thing to look at and say, well, if he doesn't go back there and don't

forget he was there just yesterday, he was there over the weekend and if he doesn't go back there, that may show a sense of optimism on the side of the romney camp. don't forget, they need florida just like they need ohio if they win this election. but if you look another those two maps generally, brooke, they're almost the same. they're going to the same battleground states because it's a same handful of states so close right now. you know, that they both need to keep visiting and visiting and visiting again. of course, i don't need to mention the fact that the president's going to be in ohio, what? three times in three days. >> kind of important i'm hearing, just kind of. >> kind of important. >> mitt romney, mitt romney his new litany is america needs a new course. he was in roanoke, virginia, this morning. take a lock. >> you do you want four more years like the last four years? i mean, do you want four more years where 23 million americans

are struggling to have a good job? do you want four more years earnings are going down every year? do you want four more years of trillion dollar deficits in washington? >> so that's mitt romney in roanoke, virginia, today. gloria, let's just look at the latest swing state polling. they're showing iowa, new hampshire, wisconsin, they're all leaning toward obama. we showed another poll yesterday showing the president leading ohio, back to ohio, by five points. point-blank, gloria borger, five days left, is time running out for mitt romney? >> sure. there's five days left f. you look out those polls, while most of them are within the margin of error, he would like to have it flipped the other way. having said that, time's also running out for the president. look. this is a tight race. it's tighter than a lot of people ever expected. it's come down to those handful of states. and what it really comes down to

is getting the voters to the polls, brooke. that's why there's an emphasis on early voting because you can bus your voters who you know vote for you and get them to vote early. but it's a matter of intensity and enthusiasm and, you know, when you talk to the romney people, they're complaining the polls based on the turnout of 2008 and not the same enthusiasm this time on the democratic side. you talk to the democrats and they say they've been adjusted so, you know, my head is exploding with all of their different analysnuaalyses of th polls an enthereand there's not of time left and they have to persuade the last independent voters in the suburbs, particularly women for mitt romney, suburban women, to get out there and support them. >> hopefully as many people as possible can get out and vote. we had a little bit of a

hurricane. gloria borger, thank you very much. that is a whole other conversation. back to sandy, though. you know, for some folks today they're going home for the first time since the superstorm hit their neighborhoods. you are about to hear their emotional reactions after seeing what's left. that's the power of human resources. the society... for human resource management and its members know... how to harness that power, because we help develop it. from the next economy, to the next generation, we help get... the most out of business, by getting the best out of people. shrm. leading people, leading organizations. [ mom ] we already have a tv. would you like to know more about it? yeah, but let me put my wife on speaker. hi! hi. it's led and it has great picture quality. i don't know... it's ultra slim... maybe next year. you could always put it on layaway and pay a little at a time.

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hours ago a number of people evacuated people, hopped on shuttle buses in new jersey. they were likely frightened, nervous, these are buses that would be taking them back to get a first glimpse at the homes on new jersey's barrier islands. superstorm may have devoured the homes entirely before sandy hit they evacuated inland to beach haven west and sandy absolutely by the looks of the pictures slammed beach haven west very, very hard and now they got to see what sandy do their homes. mike galanos with sister network hln hopped on the phone with me

from new jersey. mike, in talking to these people before they go home, hopefully they have a home to go home to, what were they telling you? >> reporter: you know, you kind of nailed it, brooke. the emotions were all over the place. i was standing with 200 or 300 people together. they were coming together and lived near each other and never talked were now talking and there was an excitement, there was an anxiousness. a real pit in their stomach as to what are we going to see? our crew had a chance to walk in as they were walking in so basically look and see what's left of their home, their life. it was very emotional. i walked in with a mom and a son, just the son's lived his whole life there. probably in his early 20s and they were trying to keep a good, strong attitude but it was like, water line probably four and a half feet and it was like -- i probably -- this is what happened. the water rushed in to the home, picked everything up, moved it around and then dropped it.

couldn't get in the front door. a dresser in front of the front door. refrigerator on the side. christina was a wonderful woman and tried to maintain a strength and a quick story just how, you know, we do what we can to cope in a situation like that. she was quick to smile and there was a philadelphia eagles thing, like a toy and it wouldn't shut up. so she's trying to salvage anything of note and every then and now and look over and say that's got to go and picked it up and looked at it and goes, the eagles won't win the super bowl ever anyway. >> a sense of humor amidst this. i marvel at people's just resilience and covering these natural disasters, going back to the homes. how bad overall, mike, in beach haven west, how bad were they hit? >> reporter: you know, we had a chance and people flagged us down and hey, you want to see some damage? come in here. everybody was -- at least four

feet of water. and back to christina, you know, from the laughter to the tears, you know, after that and her son was like, mom, we'll probably have to demolish the place. she is like, no. no, we're not. i know you spend your life here but we're going to be okay and we're okay and that's what's most important and then the tears started to flow but just devastation. you know? you look on the outside and a lot of houses look okay but it's the inside and the smell and the mold is starting and like for a mom and a son, it's their life and just devastation in front of them. they look at you and go, what are we going to do next? >> this is just the beginning for so many families just like the woman you're talking about and i'm sure we're covering it throughout with them. mike galanos, thank you so much for sharing her story. you know, ohio, being called the mother of all battleground states. folks are straight up tired. sick of the ads and the

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you have heard me say this before. ohio is shaping up to be the mother of all battleground states. mitt romney will be there tomorrow. president obama plans to stop in ohio each day until the election. there's the ads. vir virtually nonstop. we'll talk about that on the other side of the report and this all-out assault on the buckeye state. here it is. >> reporter: that house with the flag right there? that is the house i grew up in. not only grew up in cleveland, i covered the city as a reporter for 11 years. here's my high school. we were the rocky river pirates. i keep in touch and people say ever since ohio became -- >> the battleground of the battleground states.

>> reporter: -- cleveland hasn't been the same. >> read my plan. >> unemployment above 8% for 40 straight months. >> mitt romney would have let us go under. >> reporter: hey, pat? i called my buddy pat. what is it like? >> oh, man, it's crazy. it's nuts. >> reporter: yeah. i heard the same thing from another friend. >> welcome to ohio. >> reporter: michael owns michael's restaurant. that's me. that must be about 15 years old if not older. >> looks the same. >> reporter: i sat down with some customers. >> i think they have just gone overboard. >> i got so tired of them and they're constantly bombarding you. >> reporter: people here feel like they're at the end of a campaign fire hose getting blasted. >> you just can't trust this guy you raised his own taxpayer funded salary. >> a crisis with no end in sight. >> reporter: just listen to the frustrated calls to wjmi morning talk show host.

>> two or three-minute break and started off with seven political commercials in a row. >> finally caused me to make up my mine. i'm voting independent. >> reporter: is it really as bad as people are saying? michael of the media project has been counting the political ads on tv in northeast ho h and he says, yeah. i reached him in maine. >> voter in cleveland decided to watch every single ad in three weeks they would have to sit down in front of the tv for four and a half straight days to watch them back to back to back. >> reporter: one campaign's trash talking commercial is a treasure. tracy says they're making a killing. >> this election, we're at an all-time high for cleveland. we have never seen this kind of political money in this market. >> reporter: according to those monitoring the money, the political ad spending in the tv market alone is fast approaching a staggering $100 million. compare that to just $36 million 4 years ago. i used to work there. this is what i want you to see.

they're following the campaigning spending on tv ads. cleveland, number one market in the country currently and list the contracts. obama for america, $425,250. just one deal. experts say it's only going to get worse. he's been working in the tv department for 30 years. but it's the last 30 days that have just about done him in. >> i'm mitt romney and i approved this message. >> reporter: i imagine you can't wait until election day. >> i'll be thrilled when it's over. >> reporter: full disclosure, i should say like the tv stations i, too, benefit from the swing state status. after all, it brought me home. hey, mom. guess who this is. >> martin savage, that's a great piece. taking us down memory lane and what a way to make it personal. you were talking to us specifically about cleveland,

akron and that market inundated by the campaigns. what about other parts of the state? there are those 18 electoral votes up for grabs in ohio. who else could grab those? >> reporter: well, i mean all of the state is up for grabs as you say. democrats, obama campaign, watching voting as it takes place on election day. right here in cuyahoga county. if they get a heavy turnout, democrats believe 65% of the votes, say, in cuyahoga, the president should wrap up the sate in his favor. mitt romney and his people looking in the rural areas of ohio. if you see, say, not a big turnout in the cities but a big turnout in the rural areas, then it could turn out to be a very good day for mitt romney. they'll be watching who's voting and what part of the state. brooke? >> martin savage for us in cleveland, hope you got quality time with mrs. savage, mama savage.

we appreciate it. thank you. all the talk of election day, want to take you straight to virginia just outside of richmond. mitt romney speaking. quickly before we'ves drop here, let's let you know there's a heckler chanting climate change caused sandy. they were taken out. now with that, here's mitt romney. >> america will come roaring back if we do what we have done from the very beginning of the country which is to unleash the freedom and the freedoms of the american people and let them pursue their dreams so my plan is based on five key steps to get the economy going. you know what they are. number one, take full advantage of the oil, coal, gasoline and renewables. this is -- this is kind of our economy's ace in the hole right now because someone discovered not just how to drill in to the earth but then horizontally and tap in to pockets of oil and gas so we have more than we thought

we had and by virtue of that technology we can have north america energy independence within eight years. that means jobs. that means jobs here in the energy sector as well as in manufacturing. manufacturing uses a lot of energy. and energy here will be abundant and inexpensive and so manufacturing's going to come back. by the way, energy jobs and manufacturing jobs, they create hospitality jobs and restaurant jobs. this is a big plus for us and taking full advantage of it is going to get us working again. that's number one. number two, number two, just a little background. we're the most productive nation of any major nation on earth. productive means this. it means when you add up the things that are made in america, including all of the service that is are sold in america, you add them up and divide them by

the workers in the workforce, the output per person is more so trade is good for us and opening up new markets for trade, selling the goods particularly in latin america, it's a huge, growing market, growing middle class. we could expand there. i want to make trade work for america opening the markets and i also want to make sure that if nations cheat, if nations steal jobs by not playing by the rules, we hold them accountable. that's what i'll do with china. we'll make trade work for america. >> mitt romney honing in on really these are the closing arguments, folks. five days until election day. mitt romney says he can take the nation on a different course. he wants your vote next tuesday. the final stop here in new hampshire, eve of election day and four electoral votes up for grabs there. mitt romney there. we are getting news in here and situation in toms river, new

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we want to take you to new jersey, toms river, new jersey. we have new information there on the situation here and the aftermath of the ansandy. i want to get to michael holmes. before you talk about the interview and the interview with the mayor, what's happening where you are? >> reporter: yeah. we just got back an hour or so ago from going over to the barrier islands for the second day in a row and this time we had the police take us to those iconic amusement parks known to millions of americans who spent summer there is. the pictures are just horrifying. the casino pier, it's roller coaster dumped out to sea. still largely intact, bizarrely and the fun time pier and well-known to so many people around the united states,

particularly in the northeast. that's utterly destroyed on the seaside front. just an extraordinary amount of damage, entire businesses have gone. we have talked to one of the business owners out there and he was telling us, you know, he grew up there. had a business there for 20 years and standing on the sand and he said, my business was above us. it's all gone now. the amount of cost that could be involved in this is staggering. i want to have a quick word with the mayor of the area. and sir, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> reporter: your reaction to the sort of damage we are talking about. >> well, i think that this hurricane has been to katrina of toms river. i've been over at the beach. we have six miles of beach there and particularly that area, it's absolutely devastated. pictures in the paper of helicopters, showed the houses off their foundations. blown apart and i'm sure they're all going to have to be torn down and destroyed and present

some real logistics problems aside of hardship of people that can't go back. >> reporter: you had a message of people to get back there and basically the island's sealed off now. people can't go in. >> the island at the base of the bridge is sealed off. it's dangerous. gas leaks all over. power's off and i just heard governor's mess and today that the gas companies turned off the gas through seaside south and no more gas over there but people who have been damaged no matter where they are, if they know they have property damage, most important thing to do right away is register with fema to start making themselves eligible for the benefits and help fema is going to do. the other problem we have, most concerned of safety of people, people in shelters. that's not the best accommodations. temporary status but there are people in our shelters who are not going to be able to go back to the beach and working diligently to accommodate them.

>> michael? >> reporter: won't be back for a long time. yeah, brooke? >> let me pass a question on to the mayor if you don't mind. is he concerned about the lack of gasoline and the advice to people? is he concerned that people can't get it? >> reporter: that's a very good question, brooke. i can tell you we ran in to that problem last night. brooke baldwin is asking you about gasoline and cueing up for it here. >> all in cues. the problem is only gas stations are functioning with power. jersey central power and light company told me today they made route 37 a priority for restoration of power. for that reason to get the gas stations up and running, get the restaurants open so people can go and also to get the traffic lighting functioning to relieve the police officers who have had to man those pumps. >> that's one of the big problems, brooke, is infrastructure. so much is damaged by all of this. we got gas last night in midnight and had to cue for it

and lines down the street. >> michael holmes in toms river, thank the mayor for us, as well. thank you so much. devastating for so many people there. >> reporter: will do. on top of this, the election, one columnist suggests whichever wins it won't be much of a celebration at all. we'll ask why, next. my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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we have just days to go until an important presidential election and a killer storm absolutely disrupting the northeast. "time" magazine releasing three separate covers at the same time. first one delivered in the northeast and lessons here from the storm. focusing on sandy. the destruction. the other two, they really just zero on the 2012 election coverage. you have to look closely to notice the difference here.

both of them, the diagrams. one has obama on the top here. the other had romney's red circle on the top. two views, one election. want to bring in the white house correspondent of "time" michael sharer and joining us from washington. welcome back. >> thank you, brooke. >> we've just learned here that the candidates and subject to change making the final stops on monday before the election, president in iowa, mitt romney in new hampshire. do you see the stops as significant here, in terms of, you know, popular or electoral significance or merely symbolic? >> well, no. all stops matter at this point in the campaign. what's notable is the same states they keep going back to time and time again. it's an incredibly narrow number of states given historical precedence. you go back to 1960s. a majority of states would be swing states in the country, majority of states would be in play and right now looking at eight, maybe nine states, maybe

seven state that is are in play at this point and these guys going back to them over and over again. >> you know, one of the articles i read in the election "time" magazine here is joe klein and wrote a piece on the closing arguments of the campaigns writing, quote, it does seem hard to imagine a national celebration of either a romney or obama victory. why is that? >> i agree. >> why? >> celebrations among partisans but either one wins, coming out of this election in to deadlock. there's not a situation and one party has control over congress. you have a nasty fight in negotiations to come over three or four months. unlike in 2008 when one party came out with control of congress and the presidency, able to try to do big things, won't happen here. whoever wins. and second reason is this campaign is about mostly small things. it's been incredibly tailored specific campaign about taking apart the other guy and shoring up the base.

hasn't been about big ideas. hasn't been real substantive policy debates and we don't really have from either candidate a very clear vision of what the future will be like. both guys are telling us that, you know, things will be better if you elect me and fund this and not fund that. but there's not really a vision for the country, you know, beyond the next three months. >> okay. mike scherer, "time" magazine, thank you so much. >> thank you. want to take you back to the devastation that the sandy. what about staten island, someone tweeted me. brand new video from staten island. where folks are absolutely begging for help. ah. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter too? what? this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier sure does who are you? [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients

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and mitt romney are spending the final days on the campaign trail. but first, this. day three of the recovery in the northeast. sandy has now been absorbed by another weather system but redefined what waterfront really means in new jersey and new york. look at this with me. sandy created a new inlet in new jersey cutting the barrier island in to two. our affiliate news 12 new jersey spoke with the homeowner not of the house on the island but of the home that was next door. >> there's nothing -- i mean, right now there's -- it's just water where the house would be. there's not even sand where the house was. there's waves where the house was. since there's nothing for us to go back to to sift through, whether it's three days or three weeks, you know, all we would be looking at would be a sand pile. >> sand pile.

since this video was taken, crews built up a road so trucks can pass. and this is just one example of how sandy reworked new jersey's landscape. look at this with me. seaside heights, new jersey. this is before. this is the before and you're going to see the after. after sandy arrived. but for all the devastation, you hear the survivors. they're grateful for their lives. sandy's death toll is now at 88 in the united states. 157 total. those numbers keep changing here. among the dead, little boys, ages 2 and 4, we just got word in the last hour. their little bodies were found a block or two from where the water swept them out of their mother's arms on staten island. there is also concern the number of casualties could rise from new problems like gas leaks. >> you had to be careful because you could hear the gas leaks like -- sound and you could smell it really strong. >> when it comes to gasoline

here, people standing in line for hours. car after car after car. look at this. folks, this is new york, new jersey. meanwhile, 7,000 people in 9 states spent the night in shelters. here's a number for you. 4.8 million, those are the customers without power. this is pretty unbelievable. right side of the screen, this is manhattan. the left-hand side, brooklyn. time lance video shows you the moment, the darkness on the right when the lights went out in the city. still some positive signs of progress. 14 of the 23 subway lines in new york's water-logged system up and running again. but, you know, when sandy hit, a staten island man was ready with a camera and not ready for what happened next, though. >> oh my god. oh my god! oh my god. oh! oh my god! >> what? >> oh my god. >> our tree. >> what? >> what?

>> our tree. >> your car. oh my god. oh my god! >> it hit my car? >> my car. i got that all on film. i got that all on film. >> oh my god. >> sheer terror in the voice. later, the devastation is overwhelming. other people, they're grateful to vir lives. brian todd, he has this story from staten island. brian? >> reporter: this is a neighborhood completely devastated by sandy. we are on the property of rudy minor, this is rudy's house. he is with us. kind of just show us what happened here. >> okay. when the storm surge started to occur, some of the water coming up carried these can taners that were in the church parking lot. >> reporter: all the way over here? >> one of them in to the neighbor's yard and knocked down the terrace. one off of the fence and trees and hit the wall of the house. >> reporter: can you show us the damage over here?

>> sure. damage on the house? >> reporter: yeah, please. >> well, the wall's completely gone. the other one's just barely standing up. just the fence and beam holding up the second floor of the house right now. >> reporter: were you in here? >> no. i left just as the surge started. i was gathering my things and go. >> reporter: can you recover anything in this house? >> not really. furniture's all waterlogged. everything else is damaged so between the water damage and what's gone there's thing that is are gone. everything's gone. >> reporter: all right. rudy, thank you. thanks for talking to us. >> they. >> reporter: we can show you the container here. photo journalist will come with me. that red container down the street is what rudy's talking about. came from down there where the church is, hit his house and then went down the street. you can look at the devastation down this street.

incredible. this neighborhood tries to recover and they say it takes them a long, long time to do that. brian todd, cnn, staten island, new york. now to hoboken, a town just across the way from new york city. this is hoboken. after sandy smashed in to it, 50% of the town flooded. >> okay. i got you. i got you. you okay? >> yeah. >> bring it up! >> rescuers had to use a frontloader to help some of the people trapped in the homes get out. neighbors helping neighbors. and many like the couple i'm about to talk to had to get out on their own. on the phone with me now is ryan and girlfriend catherine. both of you, we're looking at a picture of here. i'm sure you're glad to be okay right now. but ryan, i know you're the one, you live in hoboken. can you first before you talk about how you got out, describe

the floods and the smell. >> the water came about four or four and a half feet but it filled about 30 minutes before it reached that level. it was pretty -- it was pretty quick for the most part. i was just surprised at how fast it came. >> how fast? >> i'm sorry? >> how fast? >> within 20, 30 minutes there was about 3 1/2, 4 feet of water out in the street. luckily, you know, we were on a third floor apartment. so we just watched it but, you know, i've seen -- i've lived in hoboken for three years. it's rained, i saw pieces of irene and it was nothing compared to how quick the water came up. it was just like a basically wave that filled the back streets. >> and we are looking at the pictures, some of the video i know from our affiliates. catheri catherine, you sent us some

pictu pictures. i understand you live in manhattan. you went to hoboken to ride out the storm with your boyfriend ryan here and what point do you two say, all right, we're going to get out and to do that we have to wade through the water? >> well, we -- we didn't want to leave. i didn't think i could make it through the water and had to wait until yesterday morning until it dropped a little bit and receded and we could make it through without, you know, really touched the water because it was filled with so much gasoline and oil and just kind of dependent on we were fine and water and didn't have power. it was just a matter of waiting for the water to go down. >> when you're wading through the water, catherine, what did it look like and smell like? catherine, you with me? >> yeah. it's hard to hear you. >> catherine, tell me as you were wading through the water what did the water look like? how did it smell? >> it smelled awful. it was filled with oil, filled with gasoline. it was, you know, not fun to

walk through but we were fine once we made it to close to washington street and we had parked the car in a garage and we were totally fine getting out of hoboken making it through the water. >> ryan, where are you all now? you all are fine? >> yeah. my parents live about 30 minutes north of hoboken and they were fine. they just had a few downed trees but they had power so we drove there. it was about -- traffic wasn't too bad either. >> and so, just final question as you're wading through this, and we're looking at pictures on rafts through this water, did you see your neighbors doing the same thing? are most people trying to get out if they can? >> for the most part. everyone kind of stayed put. no one really wanted to venture out. there are a few people that did but i think for the most part everyone erred on the side of caution which was better so for the most part everyone stayed

put. >> we're all okay despite the awful-smelling water. we appreciate you both. best of luck here. thank you for calling in. >> thank you. coming up, we'll talk to a doctor to explain actualexactly complicated the evacuation process was in the hospital. it is incredible what they had to do. coming up, president obama and mitt romney not pulling any punches on the last few days out on the campaign trail. don lemon, each man wants the most to ohio we go, next.

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. five days. let me say it again. five days to go until the election. mitt romney and president obama on the campaign trail. and it's down to the wire. and today, neither candidate is pulling any punches. take a look at this video. here's the president arriving in green bay, wisconsin, earlier this morning. listen here as the president mocked mitt romney's claim to be the candidate of change. here he was. >> he's saying he's the candidate of change. well, let me tell you, wisconsin, we know what change looks like. and what the governor's offering sure ain't change.

giving more power back to the biggest banks isn't change. leaving millions without health insurance isn't change. another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy isn't change. turning medicare in to a voucher is change but we don't want that change. refusing to answer questions about the details of your policies isn't change. ruling out compromise by pledging to rubberstamp the tea party's agenda as president, that's definitely not change. in fact, that's exactly the attitude in washington that needs to go. >> now to virginia where mitt romney, he goes on the attack here. take a listen. >> do you want four more years like the last four years? i mean, do you want four more years where 23 million americans are struggling to have a good job? do you want four more years where earnings are going down

every year? do you want four more years of trillion dollar deficits in washington? >> the president hitting wisconsin, colorado, nevada. romney in virginia. all you know by now important swing states. let's head to what's treated as the pivotal swing state and ohio. this is where ohio stands here. at least according to polls. this is the latest cnn poll of polls has the president with a three-point advantage over governor romney in the state of ohio. five days and counting. cnn's don lemon shows us how the ground game is going in the buckeye state. >> reporter: the front line on the ohio battleground cold, soggy and grey. but neither snow or sleet nor bad directions -- >> are you lost now? >> oh, yeah. >> shall keep the volunteers from their appointed rounds. why are you doing this? >> to support governor romney.

>> reporter: when college sophomore and first-time sophomore isn't working or in class, he's driving. walking. is this your next one? >> yes. >> reporter: knocking. and talking to voters. >> when you're going to vote, if you're going to go in early or like -- on election day --' we are going on election day. >> reporter: it's cold, rainy. some people slam the door in your face. others don't. some people are receptive. is it worth it? >> in the long run hopefully it will be if i see my man romney as the president, yes. >> reporter: a president romney the last thing she wants and says she has a preexisting medical condition and put on the boots, put the jewelry business on home last summer to volunteer full-time to make sure president obama and health care plan stay put. >> yes. >> yes, i do. >> reporter: both campaigns say in the critical final moments they need people like beth and

shawn. and other dedicated volunteers because a barrage of negative ads and robo calls made their rounds. it is about personal contact? >> yes. person to person. not robo call, not mass mailing. what's important to you and what can i say about that subject? >> reporter: you don't get more personal than gail and matt. >> so do you live in mexico now? >> reporter: when they're not out knocking on doors, the neighborhood team leaders rally the obama troops from homeworking the phones each evening after work. >> we are very well organized. we have been doing this a lot of us participated in '08. so, it's like a veteran army going to fight another battle. >> like a veteran army. don lemon getting a break from the cold and the rain now. the only place for people to vote here. vote early i should say, montgomery county, ohio. i heard people cheering earlier,

don. i guess the first-time voter. how's that going today? >> reporter: they're excited when i told them i was doing a live shot for your show. actually. i'm sure they love you. so every time a first-time voter comes in, brooke, they give them a big round of applause. we got a first-time voter. they may start applauding but that's what happens. it's going great. this is where people come in, they come in and then like an overflow room and an auditorium and a pretty big room and the first-time voters learn about what you should look for and all those things and fill out the ballots and this is where they come in. how are you doing? john, john he's a judge and watching everything and then look around and people are voting all through there. trying not to bother them. we'll come back out here this way. early voting, brooke, quickly started october 2nd. and they say they -- every day between 1,500, highest about

2,200 per day and so far the tally is pretty close to 74,000 so far. >> hey, so quickly, talking to some of the people that cast their vote, do they realize the tremendous importance that is the state of ohio? >> reporter: they do. and i think that's why they have had such success now with early voting. if you see the people, that's why they realize this time even more critical than last and even a razor -- a sharper razor's edge sort to speak than last time, than 2008. they get it, brooke. >> any indication? i'm sure both camps are spinning it but with momentum in ohio, when's the story? >> oh, you answered your own answer. both sides say, yeah, we have the momentum. but i do think, brooke, this time, i think that last -- you know, democrats had the edge. president obama, 2008, early voting but i think the republicans and mitt romney campaign realized this time they need to get people out early.

plus, the secretary of state sort of leveled the playing field this time because he sent early voting applications to absentee applications to every single registered voter in the state to sort of level the playing field and really up for grabs. we don't know. >> we thank you. you'll be doing the show tomorrow from ohio so we'll look for that. don lemon, thank you very much. speaking of the president, we have breaking news here. president obama just learned he has landed a major endorsement from a surprising source. that's on the other side of the break. ♪ announcing the all-new 2013 malibu from chevrolet. ♪ with a remarkable new interior featuring the available chevrolet mylink infotainment system. this is where sophisticated styling begins. and where it ends? that's up to you. it's here -- the greatest malibu ever. ♪

now here we are. five days before the much-anticipated presidential election. we have now learned that the president landed the endorsement of the one republican now independent mayor of new york city, mr. michael bloomberg. let's look down at the note. this is what we're getting from the mayor. the devastation that hurricane sandy brought to new york city and much of the northeast and lost lives, lost homes and businesses, brought the stake of the presidential election in to sharp relief and because of sandy specifically and because of climate change issues, urgent problem, they say, threatening the planet, mr. mayor michael

bloomberg endorsing the president of the united states. and now, since sandy hit, the national guard has been a lifeline for the patients of new york's bellevue hospital. this hospital's a huge hospital. it's along the east river and troops have been carrying fuel up 13 flights of stairs to keep the generators going. and now, they have been just as vital here carrying patients down those stairs. just last night, bellevue had to fully evacuate because of sandy and cnn's dr. sanjay gupta watched this delicate transport from outside the hospital. sanjay? >> we are outside bellevue hospital for more than 24 hours there's been an evacuation under way here. completed now, some 700 patients out of the hospital. moved to city hospitals all around the city. and an amazing, amazing process to see unfold. as you can imagine, brooke, just simply getting patients down

from a big hospital like this, carrying them down flights of stairs, none of the 32 elevators working, a bucket bre gad of fuel going up the stairs to keep the generator, the generator working because 40 gallons an hour and getting the bucket brigade of fuel up. transporting patients can be difficult and under these situations, very, very challenging and seems like everything went very well. now, a lot of people asking how could this happen with all that we know of storms and blackout of 2003? we asked that to the head of the hospital corporation. >> this was an unprecedented event. we weathered hurricane irene 14 or 15 months ago. w the same emergency preparations and it didn't come close to endangering the hospital. this hospital sits 20 feet above sea level. we're 15 feet higher than ny u

hospital next door because the terrain rises slightly here so it was obviously not anticipated to get a storm surge of this magnitude. >> reporter: and now the question, brooke, as you might imagine is where do the sick patients go? this is not expected to open for two to three weeks. 125,000 patients here seen in the emergency rooms of bellevue and where officials are directing a lot of attention. brooke, back to you. >> sanjay, thank you. bellevue hospital, one of the biggest hospitals really in the country as sanjay pointed out. got the power knocked out because of the generators, the floodwater pouring in to the basement and wiped out the basement fuel pumps that would have been powering the generators. people at the hospital said they have never seen anything like this. more than half of the 725 patients transferred and remaining transferred today. how in the heck does this work? we'll talk to dr. alex isocoff director of critical

preparedness and response. welcome. thank you for coming in and bringing some props to explain to us exactly -- walk me through the process. how do they keep the patients alive? >> thanks for having me. >> yeah. >> first of all, as sanjay mentioned, this is a nightmare scenario for the hospitals, patients at bellevue. >> truly. >> some critically ill. patient transport happens every day under controlled circumstances but when the power goes out and monitoring equipment maybe an hour or two of battery life left and patients who are dependent on life saving machines and monitoring equipment moved to another place, it's a delicate procedure. >> doctor, i recognize, this is a blue bag. >> it is. >> blue bag. these are patients, let's say you have an unstable icu hospital and intrahospital transfer is daunting enough so how does this work? >> listen. usually counting on a stretcher

to move a patient, a team of professionals to move them, elevators that work and lights. >> in this case -- >> you have the environment and the patient still needs to be moved and they have the monitoring and life saving equipment attached to them. one example, the patient is intimated. this is all the patient that fits on the desk and simple procedure in one respect is still needs to be ventilated while no longer on the ventilator machine and relatively easy to do but transferring from the bed to the stretcher and then down the hall and then i heard you mention trying to carry them down stairwells. >> right. >> if you dislodge this tube -- >> what happens? >> then the patient doesn't get the oxygen they need and then you have a real medical examp emergency. >> how are people trained for this? >> they're trained regularly but

in the dark and the cold under these circumstances, they just use professional training and do the best they can. >> what about the babies? hearing the nicu babies. >> absolutely. >> same thing? >> same thing. the great news is those professionals that care for them every day are there. now you're just in a very different scenario. you have to do this so you don't dislodge this life saving monitoring and treatment equipment. >> incredible. kudos to them. >> really deserve it. >> thank you, doctor. we appreciate it. >> thank you. and now as we mentioned here just before the break, the huge, huge news. the president endorsed by once republican now independent mayor of new york city, michael bloomberg. we'll talk to wolf blitzer about potential ramifications here for the president after this quick break. stick with me. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 low-cost investment options-- tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like our exchange traded funds, or etfs tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 which now have the lowest tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 operating expenses

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prand you're seeing that rightno quit in amnow.a... over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home.

that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. here we are. in the wake of hurricane sandy.

the northeast absolutely devastated by the superstorm. we are learning because of the response to sandy and because of concerns to climate change, the mayor of new york city, mayor michael bloomberg is endorsing president obama. wolf blitzer, i want to go to you and ask. i interviewed the mayor a month or two ago and asked if he'd open up an endorsement. does this surprise you? >> he was on the sidelines four years ago. it is a surprise coming this late but he wrote this long article just now and i just been reading it, brooke and made the case given what happened in new york and new jersey and connecticut over the past few days, the results of this superstorm, the potential as he believes that global warming could have a potential impact, he thinks the issue is so important that there's a significant difference between president obama and mitt romney on this issue. he has now formally gone forward and explained why he thinks

president obama should be re-elected. he doesn't like what he says is the flip flopping coming from mitt romney in the past. he writes he has taken sensible positions on abortion rights, health care and reversed course on all of them. and it's even running against the health care model he signed in to law in massachusetts and then goes on to explain why he believes the president while by no means perfect taken right decisions on a whole bunch of issues and as a result he feels more comfortable and he says the president deserves four more years in the white house and a significant endorsement of the mayor of new york. >> how significant? i asked how significant is endorsements? in this case, this is the mayor of new york city. how big could this be for the president? >> well, the president's going to carry new york state to begin with. so that -- doesn't necessarily have a huge impact in new york because it goes without saying. the president will carry new

york and california. mitt romney will carry texas. those states are not in play right now so it's in terms of an immediate impact but the battleground states, widely admired. people that don't like necessarily democrats or republicans, they look to see who's the best candidate and i think michael bloomberg has sway potentially. if it's a close race in ohio, virginia or nevada, maybe anything could have an impact on swaying final undecided voters and bloomberg could have an impact, not a huge impact. i think you're right on that matter but anything could have an impact. >> we thank you. see you at the top of the hour for "the situation room." i want to get back to the aftermath of sandy. we have seen, you have seen the absolute destruction over a couple of days that nothing more shocking than the pictures from breezy point, new york. look at this. where not just the floodwaters but fire has consumed home after home after home. more than 100 before the fire

stopped and when you look at the images, can you imagine staying in your home as the fire swept through watching through your window trying to save whatever you can? that's exactly what my next guest did. jack joins me on the phone. jack, are you we many? >> i'm with you. >> jack, i have read -- >> can you hear me? >> yes, i can. i read you described monday night as hell as the worst night of your life. when we're talking about where you were with floodwaters and fire, sir, which was more hellish? >> it was floodwaters. i was able to save my house. i had a generator on the second floor and everybody around me got destroyed. and then what happened is it was like the "titanic." all the four windows in the basement broke. the water went in to the basement. sump pumps couldn't keep the water out of the house and so we rode out the night on the second

floor with the generator going and we were able to ride out the storm. and i was able to save my house and we're lucky to be alive. but i was foolish for staying. i should have left. >> you say you were foolish to stay. jack, let me be clear. when you say we, it's your wife, kids and wife's grandmother, 96? >> mother-in-law and gardener. my son james and my brother-in-law who's disabled, thomas. so we were all in the house and it was hell. the water, we just watched the water come and come and come and we couldn't leave if we wanted to. our cars floated away. we had 400, 500 feet away from where they were. they just floated away. >> but jack, as you're watching the floodwaters you and your family bringing the family up to the second floor of the home. what point do you hear the

explosions outside, look out your window and see the fire? >> we were watching the fire and saying, oh my god. we're lucky where the area where we live in is lasagna lane and very spread out. the fires were in the walks. the houses are very close to each other. they're like five, six feet away from one house to the next. i have a huge piece of property so i couldn't -- it would be very hard for fire to jump. so i was extremely lucky and i was, you know, manning the pumps and manning the generator and kept us alive and in good condition. so, i mean, thank god for this. >> thank god for that is right. we're so glad you and your family are okay. nothing more precious than your lives. jack, thank you. thank you for calling. >> we're alive. thank you. >> parts of the new york subway

system offline but some say that didn't have to happen. they could be running if a certain something was put in to place. this is a subway plug. coming up next, a closer look at how the plugs might have prevented the flooding. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil,

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right now, water's being pumped out of the new york city subway system. but perhaps, perhaps this flooding could have been prevented altogether. this is how. look at this with me. this is a giant inflatable plug developed by the department of homeland security to spro tekt the subways by a terrorist. sandra endo is here and the obvious question is, why wasn't it used? >> reporter: yeah. good question, brooke. they're still a couple of years away from being used real-life scenarios because the inflatable

plugs are still in the developmental and testing phase. about five years ago the department of homeland security was looking for a way to protect subway tunnels from terror gas attacks and dhs officials say they spoke to professors at west virginia university and national labs and came up with this idea, basically a huge fabric balloon that you can inflate a tunnel to create a tight seal and realized almost from the start that this cannot only stop gas and smoke but water. they have to be tailor made for subway tunnels 14 to 20 feet in diameter and this is roughly 16 feet in diameter and takes three minutes to inflate and then pressurize it adding air or water and of course you need two of these plugs at both ends of the tunnel and efrl of the developers say that they're confident it could have made a difference in those floods that are impacting new york city

right now, brooke. >> so in those next of couple years when they're ready to roll, they will be used in the event of floods or terrorist attacks. correct? >> reporter: yeah. that's the goal. exactly. they say another tool in the tool box to use to counter natural disasters or any type of terror attack. >> how much do they cost? how many would a city like new york need? >> reporter: that's a good question. the department of homeland security has already spent about $5 million so far on the project and that prototype you saw there costs roughly $400,000 and you need 2 to protect one tunnel and hoping that the cost will go down built en masse. >> sandra, thank you. courting undecided voters in colorado it. we are not talking red, not talking blue voters but purple voters who could go either way. you will meet one such voter, next. but things are starting to turn around

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want to take a moment to

look at fight for colorado. we were talking about a battle for nine electoral votes. keep in mind, colorado voted in 2008 for barack obama and in the previous three elections voted for the republican and now we're about to see the battle for colorado largely the battle for the suburbs of denver. >> reporter: if you're exhausted by all the political spinning, drop in to the bike shop in lakewood, colorado, where the spinning is nonpartisan and designed to get you somewhere. >> i love the old bikes you got around. >> we have a few. that's a '67 schwinn. >> reporter: it is impossible to escape politics. he lives in jefferson county, a suburb of denver and perhaps the most contested area in the battleground and for an undecided voter for kor i ccork there's only one thing to do. have they found a way to get to you on your bike rides?

>> no. except for the yard signs. >> reporter: that's your only moment of political peace. >> that's right. exactly. >> reporter: there are 64 counties in colorado but just a few of them are swing counties. here in jefferson county and nearby arapacho county, they wrap around denver and the key of the nine electoral votes could rest here. this is the battleground within the battleground. a perfect recipe of equal parts republican, democrat and independent swing voters. >> mitt romney and paul ryan count on your vote? >> thank you. >> reporter: the campaigns are doing whatever it takes to get out the vote. millions of phone calls. canvassing neighborhoods. >> going to knock on doors. one more door, one more vote. >> reporter: republican plit cap consultant says they must win over the suburban voters. >> that's why the swing voters in jefferson and arapacho counties are up for grabs.

as socially liberal as they are on abortion and gay marriage, for instance, first and foremost, they're most i think concerned about the economy. >> look at you riding the big bike. >> reporter: he opened the green mountain sports bike shop 15 years ago but in 2010 he says sales dropped from a million dollars a year to $500,000. he struggled to pay bills. did you think you're about to go under? >> oh, yeah. one foot on a banana peel and one in the grave. something like that. >> reporter: business has bounced back a little but corky doesn't feel secure yet. when you make your decision on who to vote for, when's this going to boil down to for you? >> you know, i have to look at who's done anything for small businesses. i think it's going to be one of those things that the economy has to get better because people

will not have the money to spend. bikes are not necessities. >> reporter:s when your moment of revelation going to come about who to vote for? >> i don't know. >> reporter: on a bike waiting to see a vision on the street? >> i hope so. i hope not a mack truck. >> reporter: corky will escape the political spinning with a spin around the famed red rocks of denver. >> i do my soul searching on my bike and stuff like that. i don't have the phones ringing. i have a couple of, you know, you get that endorphin buzz and cleaned out and think about a few other things and more than likely that's when it will happen. >> reporter: like any good race, it's coming down to the wire. >> ed lavandera, i have a feeling people are looking for their moments of political peace. with that, here you are in denver and while i have you, just so we can look at the map. you have denver. this is where most of the democratic voters are. colorado springs to the south. republican. from what i gather here, as you point out, the battle of the

battleground, in between denver and colorado springs, on the other sides of denver, two key count tins. jefferson county and arapacho county. is that right? >> reporter: that is right. as i mentioned, equal parts of republican, and independent swing voters. that's why you've seen all these different campaigns spend more than $60 million so far since april in political advertising around here to try to influence those swing voters. brooke, over the last several days at this point it's not so much about switching over undecideds or get their vote, right now the main focus is on turning out the vote. so far 1.1 million people have voted early here in colorado out of 3.6 million registered voters. i'm told to really watch those numbers tomorrow afternoon when the secretary of state's office puts out the final report on just how many people voted early. it will all be about turnout here in colorado. >> we will look for that for you tomorrow. ed lavandera in denver. ed, thank you. more numbers we're going to be looking for tomorrow, the big

jobs report certainly will have some sort of political impact. this is the last, final labor department before the election. coming up we'll give you an early indicator, maybe, on what these numbers might reveal. [ man ] hello!!!! hello!!!! [ all ] ohh! that is crazy! are you kidding me? let me see! oh! what! that's insane! noooo! mr. woodson? oh hello! hello! [ whistles ] hello! [ all ] hello! [ coach ] caleb, i've got someone i want you to meet. hello. [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 3,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. rethink possible. at legalzoom, we've created a better place to turn

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the former president of penn state university has been charged in the sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach jerry sandusky. he is graham spanier. and he was charged today with perjury, conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children in an alleged cover-up of sandusky's actions. the same charges were also filed against former vice president gary schultz and former athletic director tim curley.

they were charged earlier with lying to the jury. sandusky was aconvicted of sexually abusing boys. also this year some important jobs numbers out and they indicate u.s. employers may be adding more jobs in bigger numbers than expected. this is according to a report released by the payroll proce processer a.d.p. 158,000 private sector jobs added in october. that beats the forecast, but now we wait. we wait for tomorrow for the labor department's official numbers which give us that all-important october unemployment rate. that is the final one before tuesday's election. preliminary numbers indicate jobless claims fell by 9,000 last week. we'll look for that. and we'll talk about that tomorrow. a number of new york city police officers and fire crews will be busy this sunday. nope, not with sandy relief efforts but with the marathon. the new york city marathon, an event many say should be

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with a backdrop many people are likening to a post apocalypse, the new york city marathon will go ahead this sunday. the race starts in staten island just eight miles from the place where some of these photos were shot, you'll see here in a second. breezy point, the neighborhood absolutely destroyed by fire, a hundred homes, the route winds throughout boroughs, some areas without power, and this race ends in central park where crews are still cleaning up with over half a million dollars worth of damage to trees alone. look at that. a lot of criticism over this decision to hold this race this weekend with some fearful it will take away resources such as police officers and firemen. race director mary wittenberg says there's good reason not to delay the race. >> i would liken it more to a telethon. how can we help raise more